California poised for possible oil boom

According to an article on CNN’s Money website, California’s Monterey Shale could have more oil than North Dakota’s Bakken Formation and the Eagle Ford in Texas. A major question of oil and gas companies, however, is how to access the oil. Because of the San Andre fault, hydraulic fracturing wouldn’t be a successful technology since the underground geologic layers are folded like an accordion instead of stacked atop each other as in the Bakken. One company, California-based Occidental, has had success with a technology known as deep acid injection. Read the CNN story online.

And if you have a few extra minutes, see this related article on the world’s 10 biggest energy projects, many of which are in Australia in the natural gas sector.